Results 1,401-1,420 of 7,061 for speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I would like to refer to the report of 2017. Mr. Wickham is saying that the expert panel did not commission or carry out any tests on the buildings or building materials and was dependent on the technical information supplied directly by the homeowners and concerned parties, and the panel had no responsibility for the accuracy of technical reports. It seems like nobody is taking...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: How much research is being carried out right now?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Is Mr. Wickham satisfied that the scope of the research is what he set out to do and wanted to capture?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I need to go back because I want to let my colleague in and I have to go into Taoiseach's questions. I want to go back to the front-loading of the grant applications. The homeowners in Mayo were asking for a 20% grant allocation to rebuild their homes, which must be available up front. Some 50% of the accommodation rental costs and full storage costs were to be paid up front to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: So the Minister basically needs to change the legislation if the scheme is to be fit for purpose, so that everybody can access it and people can get an up-front payment where they are not-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Joint Committee (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I nominate Deputy Steven Matthews.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: It is just made on a yearly basis.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Is Mr. Rafferty aware that people are locked out of the scheme because they cannot afford it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Would Mr. Rafferty like to hear from homeowners with exact quotes about what they have been allocated?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Obviously, it is not getting through in the communication because we have a whole list of things that need to be done to put the scheme right. I do not see any changes being made to address the issues that have been raised by the homeowners in Mayo. I know similar issues have been raised in Donegal.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: They are locked out because they cannot financially afford to access it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I had to rush off to Taoiseach's Questions but I have a few questions. When was pyrrhotite first mentioned within the Department? When did the Department become aware there was a possibility of pyrrhotite and that it was not just mica or pyrite?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Is Mr. Wickham absolutely certain pyrrhotite was not discussed within the Department until 2021?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I do not mean in any particular context. The Department would have been notified because we have been dealing with these problems for a long time, as I certainly have been in Mayo, given they were first identified, as the witnesses will know, in Erris and Belmullet and on the Mullet Peninsula. That was in about 2013. I heard pyrrhotite being mentioned at that time, actually in the context...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I am not talking about that. Obviously, the Department would have been aware of it homeowners started to contact it. At that time, did the Department or the then Minister become aware there was a significant issue, with homes falling down?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: With regard to pyrrhotite, the Department was not aware there was a possibility that it was not just mica in Donegal and pyrite in Mayo.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I am trying to establish why it was confined to mica in Donegal. It had to be mica, and only mica was tested for.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Looking back now we see the restrictiveness. This is not a normal circumstance but in such circumstances would the Department look at what was happening globally with regard to buildings and homes in other countries damaged by pyrrhotite?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Are the quarries now being tested for pyrrhotite with regard to the aggregate that makes up the blocks?